Mystery Monday — speaking of baptisms and Rochowiaks…

It’s amazing tidbits of information I’ll squirrel away to follow up later and then to discover later they lead to more inquiry. It’s appropriate that one of the themes today over at GeneaBloggers is Mystery Monday. My posts yesterday about baptisms and Rochowiaks in Toledo made me remember a bit of information I squirreled away thinking that it would be relevant later.

When looking at the Rochowiak data I’ve found but haven’t been able to knit together, I put away a baptismal record for an Antoni Rochowiak last year because it was noted that my great-grandmother, Frances, was his sponsor or godmother. The date of this baptismal record was 2 May 1886 and is transcribed below:

Then while reviewing the photos I had for Calvary, I noticed I had photographed the grave of Antoni Rochowiak.

Antoni Rochowiak grave, Calvary Cemetery

Antoni’s father is listed as Laurentius on the baptismal record–this is the Latin version of Lawerence, and Antoni is 33 on the 1920 census. Unfortunately, the priest didn’t record data beyond the parent’s names, so I couldn’t link Lawrence and Frances as siblings. (We do know Frances’ parents’ names — Adalbertus and Marianna Mazana .) Frances’ father, Adalbertus, was married twice. Per the church marriage record, he was noted as “viduus” or widower. Marianna Mazana was his second wife. It is very possible that Lawrence and Frances are siblings or half-siblings. Digging will continue.